Advisory Opinion 19-04a

Date: 03/30/2020
Number: 2019 – No. 4A
Requester: Brad Hendrickson, Secretary of the Senate
Topic: Legislative employee participation in campaign activities
Issue/Question: May legislative employees engage in campaign activity in their off hours (evenings, weekends and vacation time) including employment, volunteer activities or as a candidate for public office? If yes, is the answer different if the employee is a candidate for a legislative office? Statewide office? Local office? Judicial office?
Summary: Legislative employees can participate in campaign activities in their off hours. It is a per se violation of RCW 42.52.020 (conflict with official duties) for a legislative employee to run for a legislative office. To determine whether an employee has a conflict if he or she runs for a local, statewide, or federal office, the functional analysis is used. If the employee’s responsibilities can be changed to remove the conflict, then there would be no apparent conflict.
Document: ETHICS2019.04 (PDF 2.56 Megabytes)